The Kpop Image

So just about a month and a half ago I made my first twitter account. And already I find myself making surprising connections with some of my followers, who in turn I also follow back. But I am noticing this trend among them all, let me add that they are also all K-pop fans such as myself, that they are being too harsh on themselves for not looking like Hyorin, Dara, or one of the girls from SNSD. And this is not something that is subjected to just the girls, guys are also feeling the pressures in this day and age to look and dress like the K-pop idols from SHINee, B2ST, or from a variety of drama studs who flaunt their fashion and amazing good looks. Because I have that  "lean on me/ motherly" character, I feel like I should in my own sake of morality, reach out to these girls (and guys) who I know are probably just a few years younger than me, and help them to realize that K-pop celebrities, just as any celebrity caught in a culture that sells beauty as an image, is an illusion. But who am I to say anything?

Dara (Kiss MV)

Hyorin

I too am caught in this illusion trap. I actually get my sense of style from what I see in Korean dramas and strive to look and be as fashionable as those actresses, such as Han Ga In in 나빤 남자 (Bad Guy). So I have no real right to tell my twitter followers or even my friends that "its an illusion and you should just except yourself this way." I am contradictory to my own advice. But one thing that does separate me from most other girls is I do have a sense of love for myself. I like to dress up nice not because of an insecurity, well not entirely, but because I have a love for myself that makes me want to take care of me. Think about it. If someone is depressed, they will initially spend less time taking care of themselves. Maybe skip out on meals, bathing, and yes... their clothes will turn into a mesh of frumpiness, a wardrobe taken from the laundry hamper. Why? Because they most likely gave up on themselves. 


So yes, I do adhere to the trap of K-pop and K-drama images of fashion and beauty. I do spend time in the mirror as you guys do, trying my personal best to create my own image of beauty to match that of theirs. But I don't beaut myself up over it if i can't look like Hyorin. Truth be told.... If i had the resources that Hyorin has, such as her money, make up artists, wardrobe stylists, nutritionists, ect. I know without a single doubt that I would look just as phenomenal  as the K-pop stars and maybe, even better then some of them. And to my followers, friends, and anyone else who might be reading this, know that you would too.

We often forget in our societies of beauty as an image, that the stars also have to deal with their own flaws. You think they seriously wake up looking as good as they do in the magazines and photo shoots they cover for? Do you really think the Hallyu stars who are acting out a scene of just waking up in the morning, actually look like that in the morning of their real daily lives? You'd be wrong if you did. They get pimples, have blemishes, and have weight issues too (especially with Korea's stress on weight ). Every time they take a picture, some editor is working behind the scene to blemish out the flaws on the stars face. The Korean celebrity has to face this kind of pointing out every time they go to work.

Imagine that; to show up to work and your boss is like "Oh, have to get rid of this and that, widened the eyes because their too small, make the face smaller because their cheeks are too big, take a little off the thighs and enlarge the breasts because they could look better." I would buckle from complete embarrassment and shame. I would feel like a complete product then a human being. And I'm not preaching that this is how the stars feel all the time, but that is an idea of what they have to face everyday. But what I am trying to emphasize is that K-pop or Korean media images are NOT perfection. There is an ugly side to it.

PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO! It says volumes more then I can on the topic! Though it is isolated around American Entertainment and media yielding to women's body image, this is a universal message that transgresses across the globe and the guys could learn something from it too, so I believe it to be appropriate for today's K-pop popcorn article.  If you don't want to watch the entire thing, though I strongly suggest that you do, but if not just skip ahead to 1:55 in the video.

P.S: Is it sad that I'm writing this while listening to 2NE1's "Ugly"?  ^ㅂ^